Pathetic Little Mankind

Man has achieved some incredible engineering projects. He has rerouted and dammed rivers, moved mountains, dug long canals, and split the atom, releasing previously undreamed of force. These things tend to make Homo sapiens believe he can master Nature and do just about anything.

But periodically Nature puts on a show that should humble us. There are plenty of natural forces that we cannot predict, let alone control. Storms, hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions. If you just look at still photographs and video of cars, boats, houses, even big ships lifted and moved by the tsunami in Japan a year ago or the more recent Hurricane Sandy, you see how man's creations are pitiful little toys in the hands of natural forces.

Many of man's achievements of the last century or so have caused not just complacency but hubris, the feeling that we can completely master Nature and reshape the earth and our world when and where we choose. And then Nature says, Pitiful little man, you need to remember who is boss, and see what power I can exert over you.

Copyright (c) 2012 by Richard Stein

J.J.J. (US Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr.)

I don't have much sympathy for Jesse Jackson, Jr., the Democratic US congressman from Illinois who, in recent news, resigned from Congress. He'd been on medical leave from his Congressional position for some months, plus he is under federal investigation for alleged misuse of campaign funds for personal purposes.

First, he was not serving in his Congressional job for some six months but would not level with the public. At first his people would only say that he was on "medical leave" and "fatigued." Then they told us he was depressed. At one point the news was that he was an inpatient at the Mayo Clinic. Finally they said he was suffering from bipolar disorder.

When they said he was depressed it was supposedly over his failure to get the Senate seat vacated by Obama. And his being in the shadow of Obama. Well, I don't want to say that being depressed indicates a lack of character but those statements made him sound like a cry-baby.

He should not have run for re-election last November. Now the public has to bear the expense of a special election.

Even aside from the allegations of wrong-doing, I think this man should be ashamed of himself. He has not served the people well nor has he been a credit to his name. (His father is the famous civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr.)

Update, August 15, 2013.
By now JJJ has been sentenced to three years in prison--a punishment some regard as a slap on the wrist. All the while, he is going to be collecting $8,700 a month for his "disability" (bipolar disorder), plus he gets a "partial pension" as a result of his Congressional seat. The two add up to very nearly $150,000 per year. Nice rewards for being a crook. Not even to mention the money he got improperly, and for which he is being punished. By comparison, I have been scrupulously honest all my life and never earned half that much per year. But, as the man says, who says life is fair?

Double Header (Two Subjects)

Two matters, first General Petreus. I haven't figured out what to call, or how to summarize, the second subject.

The United States is currently experiencing a scandal similar to those which have rocked one or two European countries over the last few decades.

General David Petraeus, who had been the commander of Allied forces in Iraq and more recently the director of the US CIA (Central Intelligence Agency), is involved in a scandal involving a mistress and possible conveyance of sensitive national information to others.

I think he should be called General Betray-Us. Okay, I'm just trying to be funny and have actually not formed a strong opinion in this matter--which is good, as the facts are still emerging.

Personally, I hate all things military, so I don't like generals. That includes General Motors, General Mills, and General Electric.

On another subject, yesterday I had a visit with my doctor—or to be more precise, one of my doctors, since when you get to my age you're likely to have numerous doctors, including various specialists. This one is an internist and my "primary care physician."

His practice has some new practices (no pun intended). They're very high-tech and have embraced various computer and database tools.

So, for example, the doctor writes up a summary of my visit on a laptop, and upon leaving I was presented with a copy of the write-up. This is what is so interesting: I read it and have to say, Yes, everything is true; but it all sounds so different, as he writes it, from what my experience was—mainly what I said I want or don't want.

There has to be a more general lesson here: experience can be quite different, depending on whose eyes it's filtered through. Remember that when you have a disagreement with your spouse or with a friend.

copyright © 2012 by Richard Stein

The November 6 Election. Part 2

Looking at a lot of the results of Tuesday's election, my faith in America and in the intelligence and good sense of my fellow Americans has been restored.

I had been convinced that America had taken a big swing to the Right, Also, I was concerned about the growing power of big money (corporations and extremely wealthy individuals) to influence elections through their ability, via PACs and SuperPACs, to buy political messages—especially TV advertising—to help the candidates that they favored. (Note that, under the law, these advocacy groups are supposedly allowed to advocate only for issues and not for specific candidates.) In the election their efforts often were not successful. As an example, Tammy Duckworth, an Asian-American and handicapped veteran running as a Democrat in a suburban Chicago district, was elected to Congress in spite of her opponent having 12 times as much money spent on his campaign.
 
Also in my area, where a number of Tea Party–affiliated or –supported candidates won election to Congress in the 2010 elections, this time most of them were defeated, in I think all but one of the suburban Chicago districts where they'd gotten elected last time. Even a rather moderate Republican—frankly to my surprise—lost the Congressional seat she had held for 30 years.

And of course not least, there's the fact that President Obama won, an outcome which I had been in doubt about. And the fact that three states approved same-sex marriage—the first time(s) that same-sex marriage had won in voter referendums—which, by the way, gives the lie to the assertions by same-sex marriage opponents that same-sex marriage never wins when it's a matter of the voters speaking but only when it's been forced upon the populace by courts or legislatures.

And recreational use of marijuana was approved in two out of three states where it was on the ballot.

I have faith that some of the the candidate elections if not the referendum results show that perhaps half of Americans understand that the Republican party is the party of the wealthy, and even of the white Anglo-Saxon Protestant heterosexual male. (We used to say "WASP," white Anglo-Saxon Protestant, but note that I have added a couple more adjectives to my version.) When you look at the statistics on who Hispanics (and to perhaps a lesser extent African Americans) vote for, it's mainly Democrats. Hispanics look at the Republican stance on immigration.

On the other hand, as to the referendum results I've mentioned: Issues like same-sex marriage and legalization of marijuana have been shown to be issues which younger voters are more likely to approve. So the makeup of the electorate in this election—that is, who turned out to vote—probably was a big factor in the results. Also, it must be admitted that part of these election upsets here in Illinois was due to the Constitutionally-mandated redistricting carried out as a result of the 2010 census, and the re-drawing of districts by Democrats in the Illinois legislature to favor themselves.

The November 6 Election. Part 1

On the night of Election Day—that is, Tueday, November 6--President Barack Obama said that he had prepared two speeches, one for use in the event of winning the election and the other a concession speech should he lose.

Mitt Romney, on the other hand, only wrote one speech—a victory speech.

Not only was that foolish, in hindsight. I feel it shows overconfidence and cockiness. Not to mention foolishness. Surely a mature and wise person has learned that "ya never know," and knows about the "fickle finger of fate."

When I was in high school I memorized a passage from "Sohrab and Rustum," a poem by Matthew Arnold:

. . . and though thou thinkest that thy knowest sure thy victory,
Yet thou canst not surely know,
For we are all, like swimmers in the sea,
Poised on the top of a huge wave of fate
Which hangs uncertain to which side to fall.

And there's a bit more; it ends with, "Only the event can teach us, in its hour." Now I'd say this is not rocket science. Yet it's evidently an idea that Mr. Romney evidently has not been exposed to or has not ever contemplated.

Update, November 12, 2012
To try to be more charitable, maybe Romney's mind, in not seriously contemplating the possibility of losing the election, was pretty much like that of the young man going off to war, who is certain he will return. Or maybe even the smoker who is sure he or she will not develop lung cancer. It always happens to the other guy. That's called denial and it's pretty common human behavior.